It sure has been a while since I've been back on this site. I spend the last weekend in Chicago at the Healthy Living Summit which was both good and bad for me. The good is its helping me get restarted on keeping this blog updated and helping me want to set some personal goals and challenges. The bad is I was not the target audience at all - I'm close to 20 years older than the average and close to 75 more than most, which would be ok except many of the attendees were not very welcoming of anyone that wasn't the norm.
I was excited to be in Chicago for a weekend, especially since it was the air and water show weekend. I rode the amtrak train down to Chicago in the morning and worked form the IBM offices on Wacker. That was really nice. But the best part was being able to lunch with my former co-worker Jason. It's been over a year since I had seen him and was great to get caught up. Working from the Chicago IBM office was easier than I thought it would be - the train was quick and I had access to the IBM sametime most of the train ride so it virtually like I was in my own home office. If I do this more often, I need to evaluate switching to the iphone or a different smart phone than the blackberry I have now - other phone have much easier internet and application access.
I loved walking around the city. Chicago is very nice in the summer. Its very picturesque and always has so much going on to see. Next time I need to take more control of my schedule and make sure I do the things I want to do - in some ways I felt trapped to stay near the Congress Hotel (location of the summit) and grant park. In hindsight I really wish I would have done 2 things - first go north to Lincoln Park and see my old fave spots - the zoo, the flower conservatory, and my regular running route through it and the marina, and second I wish I had taken the architectural boat tour. I would have really enjoyed the boat tour. I know I would have enjoyed both of these much more than I enjoyed the summit itself. For me the best part of the weekend was the extended walks around the city. I do love walking and I really get to do it so little.
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